The word spirit means air or breath. eg 1kings 10:5 says (speaking of the Queen of Sheba) that “there was no spirit left in her” after seeing all of King Solomons wealth. This simply means that she was left breathless at the sight of his wealth. The apostle paul also uses the word spirit to refer to our mind or our thinking. eg Eph 4:23 says "the spirit of your mind, 1 Corinth 5:3-4 and Col 2:5 says he was absent in the body but present in the spirit. This simply means he was with them in his thoughts but not physically there.
JL: Again CONTEXT defines the meaning. God IS SPIRIT, is he only air, which is a created substance?. I have no problem with Eph4:23, 1Cor5:3-4, Col2:5 the context makes the meaning clear. Paul is also very clear in
[2Cor5:4 For WE THAT ARE IN THIS **TABERNACLE DO GROAN, being burdened: NOT for THAT WE WOULD BE UNCLOTHED, BUT CLOTHED upon, THAT MORTALITY MIGHT BE SWALLOWED UP OF LIFE. 9 Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. 6 Therefore we are always confident, KNOWING that, WHILST WE ARE AT
HOME IN THE BODY, we ARE ABSENT FROM THE LORD: 7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight: ) 8 WE ARE confident, I say, and WILLING rather TO BE
ABSENT FROM THE BODY, and TO BE
PRESENT WITH THE LORD.] The tabernacle Paul is speaking of is our body. So what would be ABSENT from the body and present with the Lord if man does not have an immortal soul? Notice ABSENT FROM THE BODY.
[Phil1:21 FOR ME TO LIVE IS CHRIST, and TO DIE IS GAIN. 22 But **if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour:
yet what I shall choose I wot not. 23 For
I am in a strait betwixt two, HAVING A DESIRE TO DEPART, and to be with Christ; WHICH IS FAR BETTER: 24 Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you.] Paul doesn’t say depart and be non-existent or to sleep in Christ till resurrected. He has a DESIRE to depart his BODY and be with the Lord. The time fram, would be when Paul is out of his body, between his bodily death and bodily resurrection, when he will be clothed again with his glorified resurrected body, just as Peter said refering to his death, he will put off this tabernacle (body), there must be something to put his tabernacle off of, which is his spirit (soul) [2Pt1:13 Yea, I think it meet, **as long as I am IN THIS TABERNACLE, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance; 14 **Knowing that SHORTLY I MUST PUT OFF this MY TABERNACLE **, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me.]
ECC 9:10 also says there is no wisdom in the grave. This says to me that when you are dead you know nothing.
JL: Eccl9:10 Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for THERE IS NO WORK, nor DEVICE, nor KNOWLEDGE, nor WISDOM, in the grave, whither thou goest.
[1Cor13:8 Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be **KNOWLEDGE, it SHALL VANISH AWAY.]
I like the way the AB puts it, knowledge will lose its value, superseded by truth,
biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1Cor13:8&version=AMP
In 1Cor3:8, it says KNOWLEDGE WILL PASS AWAY. Does KNOWLEDGE pass away when Christ returns, in the sense a person is not aware? --No, that would make the resurrected nothing more than zombies.-- Nor does KNOWLEDGE in Sheol pass away, in the sense the soul is not aware. We have evidence given by Christ’s own words, Lk16:19-31 Lazarus and the rich man. Two bodily dead men, one comforted and one in torment, in Sheol, where all souls went before Christ.
After one’s earthly pilgrimage, KNOWLEDGE has no value to decrease or increase reward or man’s fate. It is superseded by the truth, with the reality what one sowed UNDER THE SUN is now irreversibly reaped, good or bad. KNOWLEDGE has value only UNDER THE SUN were work, device, knowledge and wisdom can be employed, thru service to God and man, adding value and increase to one’s eternal reward. [Jn9:4 I must work the works of him that sent me, **WHILE IT IS DAY: the NIGHT cometh, when NO MAN CAN WORK. Eccl9:10 whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might for there is no work, nor device, nor KNOWLEDGE, nor wisdom In the grave (SHEOL) whither thou goest]. What man knows and does with that knowledge, under the sun seals his fate, after death.